Tata Nano to hit the roads by July-end

Tata Motors will deliver the first batch of its affordable car, Nano, during the last week of July, officials close to the development said. The auto major has already begun dispatching the vehicles to dealers across the country after sending allotment letters to the first one-lakh customers.

Ratan Tata, chairman of the company, is expected to hand over the keys to the first Nano customer.

Over 70% of the total 2.03 lakh bookings have come from non-metro markets.

Tata Motors, which closed the bookings for the Nano on April 25, 2009, will complete the process of delivering one-lakh cars by the last quarter of 2010. A Tata Motors dealer based out of South Mumbai said, customers have been informed about the delivery schedule in their allotment letters.

Customers, who do not figure in the first one-lakh list, have been given the option of retaining the booking and will earn interest on their booking amount with effect from July 2009. According to Tata Motor spokesperson, as many as 55,021 customers have consciously agreed to accept the delivery of the cars after the first batch delivery.

Tata Motors had offered the one-lakh pricing for the Nano only to the first one-lakh customers. Among the three variants of the Nano car, the base version accounted for 20% of the bookings, followed by the CX variant at 30% and the remaining 50% for the top-end LX variant.

"The Tata Nano is unlikely to contribute significantly to Tata Motors' revenues in 2009-10, as the initial volumes are low. However, as the booking amount is higher for the top-end variant, the margins will be better. A lot will depend on product performance and how fast the Sanand capacity comes up," said an analyst from a Mumbai-based brokerage firm.

The company, which is currently manufacturing the Nano from its interim facility at Pantnagar, has a capacity to manufacture 50,000 cars a year, which it plans to raise to 2.5 lakh units once its new plant at Sanand in Gujarat starts in December.

The company sold a total of 6.10 lakh forms and garnered nearly Rs 2,500 crore on 2.03 lakh bookings. Although initial industry expectations were around five lakh bookings, company officials maintain that the company has garnered a good response at a time when the car market is struggling for volumes.